Working with episodes and series

Working with episodes and series

The episode functionality makes it easy to work both with series, and add different content to a production such as trailers, promos, behind the scenes documentaries or other content around your main production.

Note! Dramatify have made some design and navigation changes since the video was published. Please read in the sections below.

Where do I find the episode functionality?

You’ll find the episode functionality under “Scripts & Episodes” in the right sidebar menu IF you have turned on the episode functionality when you set up your production. If it just reads “Scripts” you haven’t turned on the episode functionality. But no worries! Read “Adding episode functionality” below to learn how to turn it on!

The many uses for the episode feature

Episodes works with both drama screenplays and AV scripts for any kind of series. A few suggestions:

any production that needs more than one episode

TV-series shooting in ‘blocks’

mix script formats in a feature film or short film production, and let the feature is one episode, and you use other episodes for the behind the scenes documentary, trailers, promos and web video specials.

use the AV scripts and episodes to storyboard certain sequences in the feature film for creative clarity or insurance requirements

STEP 1: Adding episode functionality

You either add episode functionality when you set up your production,or you can add it afterwards. To set it up afterwards, just go to Production, click the edit menu in the orange toolbar and then on Edit production in the right hand toolbar menu.

STEP 2: Change episode settings

The episode setting is just below the production title at the top. To change the setting from single episode, just click on “multiple episodes”. If there are no episode settings, you have already added the multiple episode functionality.

STEP 3: Adding teams

If you want different teams handling different episodes, also add more teams below the episode setting by clicking on the teams you want to add. Save your new settings.

STEP 4: The episode menu item

Now you will see that “episodes” have been added to the Script menu to the sidebar menu of your production.

STEP 5: Setting up episodes

To start using episodes, you need to set up the different episodes. Click on Scripts & episodes in the sidebar menu, and then on the “Add Episode” button in the upper right of the page.

STEP 6: Episode names

Start filling out the required information. Note that if you are not doing a traditional series, but rather using the episode feature for promos, trailers and other content you do not need to fill out a short name that contains an episode name. Instead you can write Trailer#1 or similar.

STEP 7: Teams and block production

You need at least one team tied to the production. If you only have one team in the general production settings, only that team will show up in the episode settings. If you add more teams in the general production settings as shown above, you can let different episodes be produced by different teams. It might be different teams in different locations or different teams for different kinds of content.

If you do a TV drama series, it’s also common to produce in blocks with different teams assigned to different blocks, and you can set this up here by using the team functionality.

STEP 8: Production periods

If you work with a production that will have a large number of episodes, like a daily talkshow or a telenovela, filling out correct production periods become more important, as they are not only information to the team but also helps you and your team members to easier view which are the current episodes without having to search or scroll through long lists of episodes.

If you do a production with a limited number of episodes, they can match the general production periods if that is easier for you. Save your new settings.

STEP 9: Episode listings

The episode listings makes it easy to find your episode depending on production status. All current episodes are found directly on the page, divided into pre-production, production and post-production respectively.

Note: If you can’t find an episode, look under “All episodes”. An episode before its pre-production period or past its post-production period will be found there.

STEP 10: Adding scripts

To add a script to your episode, just click on the blue Add script button.

A tip: You can use AV scripts to storyboard sequences in a fiction film and mix those into planning and call sheets.

STEP 11: Add an existing script to a new episode

If you have a single episode production that already have a script, and you want to add more episodes, do the following:

Add episode functionality in the production settings as described above

Add a new episode or episodes as described above

Click on Create script in the episode where you want the existing script

Now you will be asked to which episode you want to add the existing script to. You must add the existing, unlinked script to an episode before you can add any new scripts to other episodes.

STEP 12: View episodes in the scene list

In the scene list, you can select to view only scenes from a specific episode. Click on Scenes in the sidebar menu to go to the scene list. Then click on Filter scenes. In the first dropdown menu, you can select the episode you want to view. You find the same episode filter in other features.

STEP 13: Filter on episodes in the scheduling

In the scheduling, you can filter both on episode and teams. This means that you can either schedule each episode on their own, or mix episode scenes based on set, character and / or time of day for instance.

Click on Planning in the sidebar menu, and then on Scheduling in the toolbar. Underneath “Scenes” in the scene column, you find Filter scenes. Click on it and you can filter the unscheduled scenes on Season (S) and Episode (E) amongst other things. Learn more about scheduling in the tutorial.

STEP 14: How to work with episodes in call sheets

Call sheets accepts the scenes you put in them, and therefore you can mix scenes from different episodes, and even different script types; should you need that.

Since each team can have their own call sheet, different teams can work on different episodes on the same shooting dates.